It's Memorial Day weekend: the unofficial start of summer and an excuse to hang out outdoors. Instead of the typical barbecue, freeze up some adult treats, toss together some picnic-friendly sandwiches and salads, and invite your friends over for a fun popsicle party!

It may be Monday but I'm already thinking about the weekend. With Memorial Day coming up in a few days, my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of summer grilling and weekend parties. That means it's time to shop for new summer entertaining essentials, starting with a fun modern grill.

Stripes and brights are no stranger to summer. Crisp white and navy are a classic nautical combo; neons and look-at-me brights have been big for a few seasons now. When their powers combine, a happy outdoor space packs punch without breaking the budget. Here are some favorite bright striped pieces under $100 for your patio or garden:

For thousand of years, urns have been lending their classic design to gardens all over the world.  From the early Greek and Roman gardens to formal English landscapes, urns are the most common and enduring of decorative ornament to be incorporated into gardens throughout history.  Urns, with their timeless and stately appeal, are one of the rare garden design elements that can add architectural interest purely on their own.  

It might be hard to imagine during these early days of spring, but there will come a time later this season when you'll want to shade yourself from the blazing sun. To that end, here's a roundup of affordable umbrellas to keep your patio or other outdoor space nice and shady for those lazy summer days. 

Now that we're almost at the end of April, we can really start seeing the light at the end of the cold, dark and rainy wintertime tunnel. It seems like a good time to look back at all of our coverage of outdoor furniture. Dig in, find your favorites and take it outside!

While there has been some debate over the idea of bringing the television outdoors, we're sure that this guide to bringing tech outside will be met with more joyous sounds - the sounds of music, that is. Today we'll talk about options to bring audio outdoors.

Isabelle Palmer founded The Balcony Gardener because she wanted to make the most of her small balcony in North London; she wanted to create a space where she could "look, sit, relax and grow my own little bit of green in the city." From ready made container gardens to gardening tools and outdoor furniture, The Balcony Gardener has an array of products you can use to create a garden escape of your own.